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Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

great thread and exactly what I try to do at the moment: eat healthy.

As most of you know I have had tumor and surgery in February. Iīm sure that food has a great part on much diseases.
In the future I never thought about my food, because I never had weight problems. Ok I want to lose 5 or 6 kilos, but it was more a wish than really necessary.

Since two weeks I changed a lot like Ellie mentioned.

I drink more water, only one or 2 glasse of sprite , but always light.
I eat every day an apple and banana ( and I donīt like fruits much)
I stopped eating in the evening during wachting TV . In the past I often watched TV and ate Chips
I bought the WII fit and make exercises 3-4 times a week

With these changes you will lose weight automatically but very slow, You need a lot of patience

Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

you sure do need a lot of patience Astrid, its hard to stay motivated! but good for you for making those changes for your health!
I must have missed the thread about your surgery, that's awful! I hope you are recovering ok!

Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

I struggled with my weight for a couple years,but in January had awake up call with high Cholesterol thrown in. So as a nurse I knew what to do I just needed the motivation,so 4 sm. meals a day, high grain toast w/PB and fruit for breakfast,yogurtw/walnuts for snack,salad w/chickec or turkey on it for lunch,carrots or celery sticksfor snack,sensible dinner.But I had to omit high amounts of potatos & pasta,watch the sugar content and salt,nothing but water to drink and I'm happy to say i'm down from 178 to 150 !!

It'a all mind over matter !! I make this salad called Tabulli,it's very healthy and filling !! Good luck too all !!

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and
well preserved body,but rather to skid broadside,thoroughly used up,
totally worn out,and loudly proclaiming!
--- WOW --- What a Ride ! "

Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

My most recent diet fix is switching to whole wheat/grain bread/pasta/tortillas etc. Breads are really bad for you because of how processed they all are. Whole grain/wheat, though, keeps the parts of the plant that are very healthy, and eating that instead significantly reduces risks of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, etc. It also helps lower your cholesterol. We've switched our breads, tortillas, and cereals (surprising how hard it is in cereal!) and pasta and I think all we have left to switch is going from regular rice to wild rice.

I've also cut most of the dairy out of my diet (except for the occasional treat) and I use Almond milk in my cereal or to dunk cookies when i make them (not too often, too much effort). Oh, I only eat cookies if i make them from scratch. First, it eliminates a TON of random chemicals and weirdness they throw in there to make them last forever (which food shouldn't!) and also because I know how lazy I am and I rarely get around to actually making them.

And I'm a vegetarian so I already don't eat meat. My main thing is getting away from the super processed food and to a mostly natural diet.

Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

Good luck Shannon.

Hubby and I made some major eating changes [started Aug 1]. I've lost just over 30 and he has lost 35.
Main changes- half your body weight in water each day [weigh 128 then 64 oz]
Nothing with processed sugar in it or fake sugars [only sweetner Truvia-from stevia plant] -there are so many hidden sugars in processed foods.
Nothing diet or low fat
No soda
Organic as much as possible
Avoid wheat [and any other glutens]

Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

When I was trying to lose weight, what really helped me was first I looked to see what my weakness was... where am I adding extra calories I don't need...
I was a HUGE lover of sauces, creams, gravies, etc... mmm yum!
So I did three things...
One - I drank ONLY water. Water with sliced lemon is still my favorite. (Since lemon is a natural detoxifier)
Two - I stopped adding dressing to my salad, and creamy/cheesy/buttery sauces to my vegetable dishes.
Three - I stopped eating meat.

I noticed that when I ate meat I wanted the buttery mashed potatoes with gravy (my ultimate weakness)... So by eliminating that from my diet I was forced to find and try different foods... I learned to cook with different spices... I have a much broader palette now and I went from a size 22 to a size 14 in only 6 months.

I didn't do any extra exercise, but I did make sure that I walked to the post office everyday (about a block away) to get my mail. I didn't take any "diet supplements" either. It was great to have minimal effort and maximum results from something as simple as letting go of meat! (I did eat eggs & milk sparingly and made sure I had a protein source... all things in moderation)

Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

Oh... I've also found that growing a garden really helps curb how much I eat... Fully understanding just how much time, work and effort it takes to grow a tomato makes me appreciate using it so much more than just knowing I can just go to the store and get another one... I also bake my own bread (which kneading by hand sure works off a few calories!)... Totally unexpected side effect, but one I'm now very grateful for!

Re: Favorite Tips for Living Healthy

I started dieting on August 6 with some folks in my forum (we set up a private area and share our weigh-ins and other things and give each other accountability. Accountability is the only thing that seems to work for me.

We also log on MFP (MyFitnessPal) our calories and exercise and just being aware of of my calories helps.

I have one person on standby on Twitter private message (via smart phone) to help me through those tempting moments when I want to snack in front of the tv. (when I mostly fail)

The big difference is that I decided to stop cooking what my men like and start cooking the things I like. They have very limited taste palettes, mostly things higher in calories and no good foods, like veggies.

We are also cooking for two, so every lunch hour I go home and hubby and I cook together and we make the same thing, but in different ways. Our plates are the same, yet different. I blogged some of it here.

For example, if we make spaghetti, I cut up fresh tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and use just a little bit of noodles and sauce and add lots of veggies to it. We brown the meat and I add a small portion to mine and he adds most of it to his. He smothers his with lots of spaghetti sauce and cheese.

Check out how different our homemade pizzas are on that post, and my soup was yummy too.

Bottom line is that my diet has changed and I am eating the things I love to eat for the first time in my life and the things I love to eat are healthier things than what my men ate and I always conformed to them.

I'm learning to do things for "me" for a change.

I also jump start my metabolism by switching up when I eat my bigger meals, so just when my body begins to expect big lunches, I give it big dinner or breakfast instead. Change of what I eat and when I eat it seems to be the biggest factor to weight loss for me.